


Standby

by katopiyo



Series: Evens Month 2020 [9]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Established Relationship, Evens Month 2020, High School AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26209828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katopiyo/pseuds/katopiyo
Summary: "Eat your greens, Duo."
Relationships: Duo Maxwell/Quatre Raberba Winner
Series: Evens Month 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859044
Kudos: 3





	Standby

**Author's Note:**

> In which I go to town with the school skit AU from the old cassettes.

Wind blows across the tall fencing securing the rooftop, white clouds crawling slowly across the bright blue sky. Chatter from students having lunch out in the courtyard is reduced to an indistinct murmur, mingling with the sound of passing cars and rustling leaves.

It's too good of a day to sit around inside.

There's a distant, muffled metallic clanging coming from somewhere nearby, when suddenly, the door to the stairwell flies open.

Duo blinks.

A head of platinum blond hair peeks out, closes the door behind him, then hurriedly begins to scan the rooftop space - around the plants and scarce wooden benches. From his place atop the stairwell, by the water tank, Duo swings his legs, watching - waiting.

Suddenly, the blond figure stops, Duo assumes in realization that there was only one place he hadn't checked. Slowly, almost fearfully, he turns around. And surprise turns to astonishment, then into irritation.

"Duo!" Quatre shouts from the other end of the rooftop, marching back over. "Get down from there!"

"Don't wanna."  
"I've been looking for you all day!"  
"Well, ya found me."

Quatre sighs, hanging his head. "What's the sense in even coming to campus if you're just going to skip all of your classes...?"

"I don't have to be around G and Howard - that's the sense."  
"They've been bickering again?"  
"Not 'bickering' - fighting! And always over the dumbest shit!"

"Now, now," Quatre laughs, trying to placate the brunet - intentionally light so as to not offend him. "Why don't you come down and eat with me?"

Duo opens his mouth to accept, but he rolls back his memory a few hours and remembers that he'd woken up stupidly early to get to campus before everyone else - to hop the main gate and sneak up onto the roof before anyone could see him. Delaying his departure by packing a pretty little box of food was the last thing on his mind when he left the house.

"...I didn't make lunch today."

Quatre's brows rise in a mixture of surprise and concern.

Duo'd always been the one out of their group who'd always eaten the most at every given opportunity, even going after Quatre's food if his own wasn't enough to satisfy him.

"I can share."  
"You need it more than I do."

Duo's stomach grumbles so loudly that he actually feels it move.

He holds his breath.

"You didn't eat breakfast either, did you?" Quatre frowns, every act Duo puts on familiar and as easy to see through as spotless glare-proof glass. "If you don't come down here, I'll go up there."

"Quat - hey! That's not safe!" Duo sputters, a hypocrite, as Quatre holds his lunchbox in his mouth by the knot in the brightly colored handkerchief wrapped around it, climbing the flimsy metal ladder one rung at a time. Some muffled sound comes from Quatre, but it's only clear enough for Duo to know that the blond is mad at him.

"Ms. Une is going to come after you the next time she sees you, you know," Quatre says, wiping off his mouth on his wrist before unwrapping his lunchbox and separating the compartments, setting them down on the fabric between Duo and himself. "I assume you're thinking it'll be best to leave around club hours?"

"...Maybe." Unable to lie, the most the brunet can do is lower his volume and hope he's not heard.

"It'd be harder for her or Mr. Merquise or Ms. Noin to catch you if you snuck out with the rush at the last bell," Quatre picks up a roll of fried egg and holds it in front of Duo. "Say 'ah.'"

Duo rolls his eyes, but opens wide anyways to take a bite. He takes the rest of the roll when Quatre hands it to him.

"How many of the sausages do you want?" he asks, starting to rearrange bits and pieces between the small tubs.

"Two."  
"Eat the vegetables too, okay?"

Duo groans in annoyance, and Quatre chuckles back at him.

"I don't have any extra utensils, I'm afraid," he says, handing the brunet his half of lunch. "I also doubt this'll be very filling, but we could go eat again somewhere on the way home, if you like."

"Our houses are in opposite directions," Duo says, shoving broccoli into his mouth, refusing Quatre's hand, silently offering to let Duo use his fork. With his own roll of his eyes, Quatre takes his half and starts to daintily dig in. "That doesn't mean anything. We've gone out after school more times than I'll ever be able to count."

Too lazy to come up with a witty response, Duo just sticks his tongue out and makes an annoyed noise.

"Keep your tongue in your mouth and chew with your mouth closed," Quatre scolds, not bothering to look up at him. Duo makes another similar, but different sound in defiance, owning his immaturity.

"I'm not sure why you're being difficult when I'm giving you an easy way to avoid those 'noisy old farts' you call your grandfathers," Quatre says, then sits back to take another bite, facing the same view as Duo. Then it hits him just how high up they are.

As Quatre gazes out into the blue, over the fence and over the courtyard - at all the students turned tiny, Duo sits and munches, watching the other boy's golden hair flutter subtly in the breeze. Quatre's last statement going in one ear and right out the other, Duo nods to himself, agreeing with vague thoughts not yet fully formed in the back of his mind.

Quatre is cute, but everyone already knows that. He's also incredibly handsome and charming. Everyone knows that, too.

As Quatre takes in the sights and sounds around him with a touch more appreciation, the silence continues for just another few moments.

With another sigh, Quatre turns back to Duo, setting his fork down in his container. "Is your silence a 'yes' or a 'no'?"

"Sure."  
"You just can't say a proper 'yes,' can you?"  
"Oh, come on, you're already getting what you want from me."

"Eat your greens, Duo."  
A euphemism for 'shut up.'

"I already did."  
A follow-up in code for 'make me.'

Duo gives Quatre his smuggest, cheekiest grin, a few flecks of green on his pearly whites.

A tiny 'pft' escapes from the blond, and within seconds, the two of them fall into a loud fit of laughter, comfortable and warm in the midday sunlight.

Duo's laugh is Quatre's favorite melody, and when he turns to look at him, he can't help but smile. He's expressed the sentiment before. Duo remembers it when he sees it happen - the subtle curve of Quatre's lips when their eyes meet - pale cheeks growing rosy.

He smiles back just before Quatre turns away again, tidying up after finishing his portion of their shared lunch. Duo pops the last bit of his meal into his mouth, then moves to help the blond. Their hands brush a few times, but not much is thought of it.

"I got you copies of the print-outs and worksheets we've gotten so far," Quatre informs Duo as he ties the cloth up again, "but, as always-"

"You won't do them for me because it won't do me any good, I know," Duo chuckles. "But you'll give me private lessons again, won't you, Mr. Winner?" He leans over, supporting himself on one arm, and waits for the blond to look up.

Duo's hand in his field of vision, Quatre knows what to expect, and he giggles.

"I think, Mr. Maxwell, that I'd like to see you try different ways of baiting me," he says, bringing the two of them nose to nose, ocean blue meeting violet-tinged cobalt, "I feel like I'm getting to be too easy to catch."

"Has anybody else ever caught you?"  
"Only once or twice."  
"I wouldn't call that an easy catch."  
"I meant that I'd like to give _you_ a little more trouble sometimes."  
"Could we skip this discussion and just kiss already?"

A breathy laugh, and Quatre closes his eyes, reveling in his triumph, tilting his chin and waiting for Duo to close the last meager units of distance between them. And Duo does, gently brushing his lips against Quatre's before Quatre pushes himself forward, closer, fingers loosely intertwining with Duo's, smiling into the contact, gentle and easy.

"God, I love you, Quat," Duo sighs as they separate, leaning his forehead against the other's. Quatre hums contentedly. "I love you too."

Distantly, the melodic school chime rings, and the students below begin to file away, back to their classrooms. Quatre gives Duo one last quick kiss before he pulls himself away.

"I'll see you after class," Quatre says, standing to go climb back down the ladder.

"Meet you by your shoe locker?" Duo suggests.

"I think we'd be better off meeting just outside the gate."  
"Yeah, you're right."

"You're welcome by the way," Quatre says, pretending to be miffed, smile lingering in his voice. Duo rolls his eyes. "I owe you my life for lunch," he thanks him in his own way. "Do you wanna choose where we're gonna eat?"

"You can choose this time," Quatre grins. "So it's a date, then?"

Duo feels warm at the sight, and he thinks about just how lucky he is - to have someone who brings light into his life with so much ease.

"It's a date."


End file.
